The Battalion OPINION 1 1 Tuesday, November 28,1989 Opinion Page Editor Juliette Rizzo 845-331; ( Directions for stuffing a Turkey: Academic advising ai^ A&M needs reform Academic advising at A&M stinks. It’s not strikingly obvious that it stinks, but it does. If A&M is going to purport to be a world-class university, it needs to reform the academic advising in the departments and colleges of this cam pus. The advising problem is not very ob vious because it’s mostly a passive prob lem. In other words, it doesn’t cause us immediate distress such as, say, the parking problem, so we don’t consider it a major problem. Timm Doolen Asst. Opinion PagtEgl be to the advising problem. These me; bers of the faculty and staff prai ii ir not only academic advising, but adlr ingon anything, personal or others i t Gig’em and Hug’em Aggies Few students are directly harmed by the lack of quality academic advising, but the fact that advising isn’t very good indirectly hurts us all in a way. Hey Twelfth Man! Yeah, you in the maroon! “To cheat oneself out of love is the most terrible deception.” — Leo Bus- caglia. Steve McBride Guest Columnist Intimacy. Does that make you feel uncomfortable? I hope it does. I’m tired of you not really being you. It’s a sad shame, we as human beings, are not socially allowed to be ourselves publicly, like we are privately. I truly believe if there is one person whom we can touch totally, unashamedly and completely, we will never die of lone liness. Do any of you have anyone like that? taught me our relationships with each other are the most important thing we ossess. There is no price tag on true ove, and no price tag for any person. many of us act in this manner when op portunities to show love arise. It takes a man to fake his feelings and express himself. Being emotional is being hu man. Love isn’t afraid to feel. Love cries for expression. P 1c Many people say, “I’m afraid to be hurt, but I’m not afraid of intimacy.” Intimate relationships are risky, de manding and occasionally painful. But the only alternative is to circulate in de spair and loneliness. Leo Buscaglia in his book, Love, said the only way you are going to grow and see yourself is in an intimate relationship. When I love you, and you love me, we’re like each other’s mirror, we see infinity! We all have a special group of peo ple whom we dearly care for in many ways. Now is the time. Don’t wait until tomorrow to tell someone you love them. Do it now! Get on the phone: “Mom, it’s two in the morning. I’m not in jail. I’m still in school, but I have to say that I love you!” I promise it will be one of the most significant moments of her life. People say, “Well, she knows that already.” Wonderful, but do it anyway. A relationship is a sharing, a mutual revealing of oneself. Not all relationships work out the way you want, but that doesn’t mean your affec tion was wasted. Affection is never wasted. Remember, it is only when love demands that it brings on pain. Think about the state of advising at A&M. When you have an academic problem or question, who do you go to? You probably talk to friend, most likely one in your same major who is further along in the course work. You may even ask a favorite professor for some academic advice. But how often do you go to talk to your academic adviser when you have an academic problem or want advice? Solves the problem, right?!; | v really. I personally wouldn’t feelvo comfortable walking into a totalstras er’s office and asking him advice academic or personal matters. 1 that’s almost exactly how the propz [ is designed to work. So unless a stude j_ just happens to know' a professon is also a mentor, the student-men: relationship is an awkward one. to A case could be made that an adit I have yet to meet a person who doesn’t like someone to tell them they love them. This guy goes crazy when I get a card or note saying, “Steve, I love So, what is intimacy? Intimacy is a big brother giving his 7-year-old little brother a hug and kiss when big brother gets home from A&M. Inti macy is telling that special person in the Aggie Band how deeply you care for them. Intimacy is giving your girlf riend a rose for no reason. Intimacy is holding your little brother on your shoulders during Aggie football games because he’s too short to see. Intimacy is anything you want it to be. After taking an informal survey, I discovered that few students use their academic adviser except when they must. Even when they do see their ad visers, many times they are of little help. To many students on this cam pus, an adviser is nothing more than a person who signs papers. you!” It’s even better if I get to hug Human beings were created to love and to possess a need for love —an in nate characteristic in all of us. So why do we love in times of tragedy and need, but not at times when there is no reason to love? One excuse might be that we are afraid to show our “real self’ to our peers. A few experiences in my life have someone. The hug is one of the gran dest displays of emotion we have. Use it! At times, a hug means more to me if it comes from a guy. Yes, that’s right — a male. Guys have a macho image branded on them by society. We’re not allowed to cry, hurt, or show any emo tion, unless we make a touchdown. I’ve never understood why we can’t be our selves, and I refuse to accept it. Buscaglia stated: “I think the loving person must return to spontaneity, to touching and holding each other again.” In all fairness, I’m sure there are many good advisers who are consulted often by their students. But advising varies from department to depart ment, and accordingly, some depart ments are better than others. is also a stranger until the first meetE of the student and adviser. Yettheii a psychological advantage of goin|: an assigned adviser over a randcc mentor. If an adviser is assignedloa in a way I feel obligated to utilize t as a knowledgeable resource, illfe comfortable doing so and need® lance. On the other hand, because mentor is not assigned specificalln me, 1 would feel funny asking himc her for help. Also, in many casesi adviser is the only person whocanjjs a student official authorizationimA tain academic situations (e.g.Q-dro« r It’s up to us to give our relationships a chance. There is nothing greater in life than loving another and being loved in return, for loving is the ulti mate of experiences! Hug’em Aggies! When I was a physics major, there were four advisers split up among less than 100 students. I felt comfortable talking to my adviser, and I even adopted another adviser who hap pened to be a professor I liked. It takes the mentality of a young boy to ignore the crush on a little girl. Yet, Steve McBride is a senior market ing/management major and a guest columnist for The Battalion. It’s anchor’s away on ‘Today’ Yet in other colleges and depart ments, the advising situation is not as rosy. In the College of Business, to get an adviser, you put your name on a list and then wait to meet your adviser. This is the probably the most imper sonal form of advising I’ve heard of at A&M. Good advising is the key to a beti*y< education and academic base at Ai'f ? ,n+/ . . , jjHu As students, we need to be able to one-on-one with an adviser abo: problems in classes, with profes; with grades or with course work.' 1 need to be able to casually gree plans, which classes to take, suit of minors or specializations an other types of academic concerns,w: someone who is very knowledges! I Cl about those areas. Currently, many* dents don’t feel close enough to advisers to do this. Deborah Norville’s new schedule: • 1:35 a.m.: Call Jane Pauley and wake her up. Say,“Hi, Jane. This is Deborah. How does it feel to be a has- been?” • 1:40: Get into shower. • 1:42: Get out of shower to answer phone. It’s Jane Pauley saying, “Wake me up one more time like this, sister, and I’ll call a press conference and say you had a boob job.” • 1:45: Put on make-up. • 3:00: Finish make-up. Admire myself until 3:25. • 3:30: Dress. I think I’ll wear the blue dress,. • 3:45^ Who cares what I wear? I look great in anything. • 4:00: Call Jane Pauley back. “Say I had a boob job and I’ll say you had a tummy tuck after the baby was born.” • 4:15: Limo arrives. • 4:16: This is the limo? Where’s the fresh flowers, manicurist and Per rier with crushed ice for breakfast? • 4:17: Pout until driver either com mits suicide or promises on his wife and children there will never be an other such oversight. • 4:45: Arrive at studio. Gumbel has slaves strewing rose petals in his Lewis Grizzard Syndicated Columnist path as he walks in. Make a note to de mand same treatment, bigger slaves. • 5:15: Retouch make-up. Remark to make-up artist, “You must really be good at what you do. Anybody who could make that toad Jane Pauley look half-way decent is a miracle worker.” • 5:30: Hair. • 5:35: Hairdresser remarks, “Gosh, Deborah, here’s a gray one.” • 5:36: Stop choking hairdresser. She’s beginning to turn blue. • 5:50: Be five minutes fashionably late for staff meeting. • 6:00: Yawn a lot every time Gum bel has something to say. • 6:50: Make a nasty remark about Willard’s jacket. Say,“Who’s your tai lor? Omar the tentmaker?” • 7:00: Show opens. Look sexy, adorable, cute, as well as intelligent. Wink at the camera and say,“I may look sexy, adorable and cute but I know the capital of Pennsylvania.” • 7:01: Say, “OK, so I was wrong, but Pittsburg is in Pennsylvania. I’m sure about that.” • 7:30: Interview best-selling au thor. Begin with probing question like, “So, tell us what your book is about,” • 8:05: Interview president of the American Chastity Association. Begin with probing question like, “So, were you chastized as a child? t • 8:59: Promo Monday’s show. On Monday, ‘Do you need a tummy tuck? With special guest, Jane Pauley. • 9:01: So, nothing to this job. Copyright 1989, Cowles Syndicate, Inc. In my department, as in many de partments, there is one adviser for the whole undergraduate program and the adviser teaches classes as well. He has several hundred students to advise and a class to teach, so his time is spread thin. It seems that it’s very hard for the adviser to acquire a good one-to-one relationship with his students when he must advise several hundred. id': We need some solutions to theai ing problem. The administratioi should set some guidelines as to many students an adviser can advis The number should be definitely ui der 100, hopefully much less thantli And each department should try find the best people possible to be at visers for their students. With qualt academic advising, A&M would better university than it already is. The University has the Mentors Pro gram they offer as a probable solution Timm Doolen is a junior compuli science major and assistant opinii page editor for The Battalion.